What does σκληρός (sklērós) mean in the Bible?
σκληρός (sklērós): Hard-hearted resistance to God's will; physical hardness metaphorically applied to moral stubbornness.
Greek · G4642
σκληρός
Hard
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σκληρόςG4642
Pronunciationsklērós
What does σκληρός (sklērós) mean in the Bible?
σκληρός (sklērós): Hard-hearted resistance to God's will; physical hardness metaphorically applied to moral stubbornness.
Full entry for σκληρός (G4642) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4642?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [It is] hard (1), a difficult (1), a hard (1), harsh [word] (1), strong (1).
Where does σκληρός (sklērós) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 25:24. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (1), James (1), John (1), Jude (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It[It is] hard1×Acts 26:14
a difficult1×John 6:60
a hard1×Matthew 25:24
harsh [word]1×Jude 1:15
strong1×James 3:4
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 25:24σκληρὸςtoa hardAdjective - Nominative Masculine SingularJohn 6:60Σκληρόςtoa difficultAdjective - Nominative Masculine SingularActs 26:14σκληρόνto[It is] hardAdjective - Nominative Neuter SingularJames 3:4σκληρῶνtostrongAdjective - Genitive Masculine PluralJude 1:15σκληρῶνtoharsh [word]Adjective - Genitive Neuter Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 25:24
Aligned rows5
Books represented5
Matthew1John1Acts1James1Jude1
Source forms
σκληρῶν2xsklērōnJames 3:4, Jude 1:15
σκληρόν1xsklēronActs 26:14
Σκληρός1xSklērosJohn 6:60
σκληρὸς1xsklērosMatthew 25:24
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular2xMatthew 25:24, John 6:60
Adjective - Genitive Masculine Plural1xJames 3:4
Adjective - Genitive Neuter Plural1xJude 1:15
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular1xActs 26:14
Evidence Summary
MessiahRevelation
Greek word. Hard-hearted resistance to God's will; physical hardness metaphorically applied to moral stubbornness.
Strong'sG4642
Lexical occurrences5 versesGreek text appearances6 timesWord forms4 forms5 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkJohn 6:60–71Source Gloss
hard
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 25:24Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
σκληρὸςsklhrov
hard, violent, harsh, stern
Read verseJohn 6:60Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
Σκληρόςsklhrov
hard, violent, harsh, stern
Read verseActs 9:5Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
σκληρόνsklhron
hard, violent, harsh, stern
Read verseActs 26:14Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
σκληρόνsklhron
hard, violent, harsh, stern
Read verseJames 3:4Adjective Genitive Plural Masculine
σκληρῶνsklhrwn
hard, violent, harsh, stern
Read verseJude 1:15Adjective Genitive Plural Neuter
σκληρῶνsklhrwn
hard, violent, harsh, stern
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 4 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns4Aligned forms5Case patternNominative (3)Number patternSingular (3)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · MasculineMatt 25:24 · John 6:602×
Nominative · Singular · NeuterActs 26:141×
Genitive · Plural · MasculineJas 3:41×
Genitive · Plural · NeuterJude 1:151×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
hard, harsh
Additional Occurrences
John 6:60-71σκληόςsklērós
hard, difficult
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
σκληρός is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Describes offense taken at divine revelation.John 6:60–71
Describes the offense taken at Christ’s teaching.
Canonical Themes
MessiahRevelation
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.